Origin

The character combines a curved container shape (勹) with a spoon or ladle shape (匕) underneath. The image suggests something being scooped or released from a container — evoking how a scent or smell rises up and spreads into the air. This visual idea of something subtle and invisible emanating outward naturally came to mean fragrant, stink, or glow. The compound sense captures how smell, like light or a rumor, is something you sense without seeing its source directly.